The arrival of the second NATO Allied Ground Surveillance (AGS) Global Hawk RQ-4D Block 40 remotely piloted aircraft on 19 December at the aircraft’s new main operating base in Sigonella, Sicily, is to be followed by the last three during the first half of 2020, leading to the declaration of an initial operational capability, according to NATO officials.
Final flight verification procedures for the first two RQ-4Ds are to start in early January. The first aircraft arrived on 21 November.
NATO’s first RQ-4D Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft after it arrived in Sigonella, Sicily, on 21 November 2019. (NATO)
Noting that the unmanned aerial vehicles will operate from temporary hangars until the base’s permanent facilities are completed by July 2021, Volker Samanns, general manager of the NATO AGS Management Agency (NAGSMA), told journalists during a press tour of the site on 17 December that NATO is “basically creating a small air force” at Sigonella in view of the extensive personnel and facilities needed to support the fleet.
Currently some 300 allied intelligence, technical, and maintenance personnel are posted to Sigonella. Once the site declares full operational capability by the end of 2021, there will be 600 personnel from 25 nations.
Declaring that the aircraft will be able to provide 24/7 coverage of two operations at the same time for up to a month, Brigadier General Philip Stewart, the AGS force commander, said NATO’s Global Hawk fleet was “even better” than the US Air Force’s version. “Our platforms are integrated with far more – and far more diverse – NATO assets and sources of intelligence, and we’ll be able to process our intelligence and get it to allied leaders within an hour,” he said on 17 December.
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